Method, user equipment unit and base station for transmitting and receiving uplink data

ABSTRACT

A terminal is disclosed including a transmitting unit that transmits, to a base station, a schedule request (SR); and a receiving unit that receives, from the base station, an uplink grant indicating scheduling information for transmitting uplink data, wherein the transmitting unit transmits, to the base station, the uplink data by employing the scheduling information. In other aspects, a base station and a system are also disclosed.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a field of mobile communication, andmore particularly, to a method for transmitting uplink data by a userequipment (UE), a method for receiving uplink data by a base station,and the user equipment and the base station.

BACKGROUND

In a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, when a UE is to transmit uplinkdata, as shown in FIG. 17 , the UE transmits to a base station aSchedule Request (SR) in step S1701. In response to the SR, the basestation transmits to the UE an uplink (UL) Grant indicating schedulinginformation for transmitting a Buffer Status Report (BSR) in step S1702,where the BSR is used for reporting the volume of data to be transmittedby the UE to the base station. Next, the UE transmits to the basestation the BSR by employing the scheduling information indicated by theUL grant in step S1703. According to the BSR, the base station maydetermine the volume of the data to be transmitted by the UE to the basestation, so as to allocate to the UE scheduling information fortransmitting the data. Subsequently, the base station returns, to theUE, a UL grant indicating the scheduling information for transmittingthe data in step S1704, so that the UE may transmit the uplink data byemploying the scheduling information allocated by the base station instep S1705.

In a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) system, the UE can alsotransmit the uplink data by the above-described process. Furthermore, inorder to expand coverage, repeated transmissions may be performed in therespective steps of the above-described process. However, with respectto the NB-IoT, especially in a case of repetition in order to expand thecoverage, power consumption and time delay caused by applying theabove-described process are obvious. In addition, in the NB-IoT system,the volume of the data to be transmitted by the UE to the base stationis smaller as compared with the LTE system. Therefore, in theabove-described process, overhead caused by the UE transmitting the BSRand the base station transmitting the UL grant is larger than the volumeof the data to be transmitted.

SUMMARY

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provideda method for transmitting uplink data by a user equipment, comprising:transmitting to a base station a schedule request (SR); receiving, fromthe base station, an uplink grant indicating scheduling information fortransmitting uplink data, wherein the scheduling information isallocated by the base station according to a volume of the uplink data,the volume being determined by the SR; and transmitting to the basestation the uplink data by employing the scheduling information.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isprovided a user equipment, comprising: a transmitting unit configured totransmit to a base station a schedule request (SR); a receiving unitconfigured to receive, from the base station, an uplink grant indicatingscheduling information for transmitting uplink data, wherein thescheduling information is allocated by the base station according to avolume of the uplink data, the volume being determined by the SR; andthe transmitting unit further configured to transmit to the base stationthe uplink data by employing the scheduling information.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isprovided a method for receiving uplink data by a base station,comprising: receiving, from a user equipment, a schedule request (SR);transmitting, to the user equipment, an uplink grant indicatingscheduling information for transmitting uplink data, wherein thescheduling information is allocated by the base station according to avolume of the uplink data, the volume being determined by the SR; andreceiving, from the user equipment, the uplink data transmitted byemploying the scheduling information.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isprovided a base station, comprising: a receiving unit configured toreceive, from a user equipment, a schedule request (SR); and atransmitting unit configured to transmit, to the user equipment, anuplink grant indicating scheduling information for transmitting uplinkdata, wherein the scheduling information is allocated by the basestation according to a volume of the uplink data, the volume beingdetermined by the SR, wherein the receiving unit is further configuredto receive, from the user equipment, the uplink data transmitted byemploying the scheduling information.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isprovided a method for transmitting uplink data by a user equipment,comprising: transmitting to a base station a schedule request; andtransmitting to the base station uplink data, wherein an end of uplinkdata transmission is indicated by information bits in the uplink data ornot transmitting uplink data in a predetermined time period.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isprovided a user equipment, comprising: a transmitting unit configured totransmit to a base station a schedule request and transmit to the basestation uplink data, wherein an end of uplink data transmission isindicated by information bits in the uplink data or not transmittinguplink data in a predetermined time period.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isprovided a method for receiving uplink data by a base station,comprising: receiving from a user equipment a schedule request;receiving from the user equipment the uplink data until an end of uplinkdata transmission, wherein an end of uplink data transmission isindicated by an end tag in the uplink data or not receiving uplink datain a predetermined time period.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there isprovided a base station, comprising: a receiving unit configured toreceive from a user equipment a schedule request and receive from theuser equipment uplink data until an end of uplink data transmission,wherein an end of uplink data transmission is indicated by an end tag inthe uplink data or not receiving uplink data in a predetermined timeperiod.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

By describing embodiments of the present disclosure in detail inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects,features and advantages of the present disclosure will become clearer.The accompanying drawings are provided for further understanding theembodiments of the present disclosure and constitute a part of thespecification, which are used for explaining the present disclosuretogether with the embodiments of the present disclosure rather thanlimiting the present disclosure. In the accompanying drawings, samereference signs usually denote same components or steps.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a NB-IoT system in which embodimentsof the present disclosure may be used.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for transmitting uplinkdata by a user equipment according to a first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for transmitting uplinkdata according to a first implementation mode of the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of indicating scheduling informationfor a B SR by employing time resources for transmitting a SR.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of indicating the schedulinginformation for the BSR by employing a combination of the time resourcesand code resources for transmitting the SR.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for transmitting uplinkdata by a user equipment according to a second implementation mode ofthe first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for transmitting uplinkdata by a user equipment according to a third implementation mode of thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for transmitting uplinkdata by a user equipment according to a fourth implementation mode ofthe first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 shows a structural schematic diagram of a user equipmentaccording to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 shows a schematic flow chart of a method for receiving uplinkdata by a base station according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 11 shows a structural schematic diagram of a base station accordingto the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a schematic flow chart showing a method for transmittinguplink data by a user equipment according to a second embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 13 shows a structural schematic diagram of a user equipmentaccording to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a schematic flow chart showing a method for receiving uplinkdata by a base station according to the second embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 15 shows a structural schematic diagram of a base station accordingto the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware structure of aradio base station and a user terminal involved in one implementation ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 17 is a schematic data flow diagram showing a UE transmitting datato a base station in an LTE system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make objects, technical solutions and advantages of thepresent disclosure clearer, the exemplary embodiments of the presentdisclosure will be described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings. It is obvious that the described embodiments arejust a part but not all of embodiments of the present disclosure. Itshould be understood that, the present disclosure is not limited by theexemplary embodiments described here. Based on the described embodimentsherein, other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art withoutany inventive work should be within the scope of the present disclosure.

Hereinafter, the embodiments of the present disclosure will be describedin the context of a NB-IoT. However, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that the embodiments of the present disclosure may beapplied to various communication systems.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a NB-IoT system in which embodimentsof the present disclosure may be used. As shown in FIG. 1 , the NB-IoTsystem includes a base station 10 and a user equipment 20, where, theuser equipment 20 transmits to the base station 10 various uplinkcontrol information and/or uplink data, and the base station 10 receivesthe uplink control information and/or the uplink data and transmits tothe user equipment 20 downlink control information and/or downlink data.It should be noted that, although only one base station and one userequipment are shown in FIG. 1 , it is merely illustrative, and there maybe more base stations and/or user equipments in the system.

Hereinafter, the embodiments of the present disclosure will be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

In a first embodiment of the present disclosure, scheduling informationemployed by a UE to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) may beindicated to a base station by employing a schedule request (SR), sothat the base station may receive the BSR on the scheduling information,or indicate the volume of uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to thebase station.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic flow chart of a method 200 for transmittinguplink data by a user equipment according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 2 , in step S210, a SR is transmitted to a basestation.

In step S220, a UL grant indicating scheduling information fortransmitting uplink data is received from the base station, where, thescheduling information is allocated by the base station according to thevolume of the uplink data, the volume being determined by the SR.

In S230, the uplink data is transmitted to the base station by employingthe scheduling information.

In a first implementation mode of the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the SR indicates scheduling information for a buffer statusreport (BSR), where, the BSR is a report for indicating the volume ofthe whole uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the base station.The scheduling information for the BSR may include the number ofrepeated transmissions of the BSR (i.e., the number of repetitions ofthe BSR) and/or a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MSC) and the like.However, the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limitedthereto. The base station may acquire the scheduling informationemployed by the UE to transmit the BSR by the SR, without allocating thescheduling information for the BSR, so that the UL grant indicating thescheduling information for the BSR may not be transmitted to the UE.Thereafter, the UE transmits to the base station the BSR, and then thebase station determines the volume of uplink data to be transmitted bythe UE according to the BSR and allocates corresponding schedulinginformation.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic flow chart of a method 300 for transmittinguplink data according to the first implementation mode of the firstembodiment of the present disclosure. The method can be performed by auser equipment.

As shown in FIG. 3 , in step S310, the UE transmits to a base station aSR. The step corresponds to the above-described step S210. In theimplementation mode, the SR indicates scheduling information for a BSR.

In one example, the scheduling information for the BSR may be explicitlyindicated by the SR. Specifically, information bits for indicating thescheduling information for the BSR may be padded or set in the SR. Thenumber of padded information bits may be appropriately determinedaccording to content of the scheduling information to be transmitted. Inthe example where the scheduling information includes the MCS and thenumber of repetitions, the MCS (specifically, an index of the MCS) maybe indicated by employing a bit(s) padded on the SR, and the number ofrepetitions may be indicated by employing b bit(s) padded on the SR,where a and b are integers greater than or equal to 1. For example, theMCS for the BSR may be indicated by employing 1 (a=1) bit, and thenumber of repetitions may be indicated by employing 3 (b=3) bits, asshown in Table 1 and Table 2 below. However, the embodiments of thepresent disclosure are not limited thereto. The size and content of bitinformation and a combination thereof may be appropriately modifiedaccording to content of the scheduling information. For example, acombination of the MCS and the number of repetitions for the BSR may berepresented by c bits, such that each value of the c bits corresponds toone combination of the MCS and the number of repetitions for the BSR, asshown in Table 3.

TABLE 1 Bit MCS for BSR 0 BPSK 1 QPSK

TABLE 2 The number of Bit repetitions for BSR 000 1 001 2 010 4 011 16 .. . . . .

TABLE 3 MCS + the number of Bit repetitions for BSR 0000 BPSK + 1 0001BPSK + 2 0010 BPSK + 4 0011  BPSK + 16 0100 QPSK + 1 0101 QPSK + 2 . . .. . .

In another example, the scheduling information for the BSR may beimplicitly indicated by the SR. For example, the scheduling informationfor the BSR may be implicitly indicated by resources for transmittingthe SR. The resources may include one or more types of time resources,frequency resources and code resources for transmitting the SR.

For example, a mapping relationship may be established between the coderesources for transmitting the SR and the scheduling information for theBSR, such that each code corresponds to one type of schedulinginformation for the BSR, as shown in Table 4. In the table, the coderesources are embodied as a sequence for scrambling the SR.

TABLE 4 Sequence Scheduling information (MCS and index the number ofrepetitions) for BSR 0 BPSK, 1 1 BPSK, 2 2 BPSK, 4 3  BPSK, 16 4 QPSK, 15 QPSK, 2 6 QPSK, 4 7  QPSK, 16 . . . . . .

Moreover, for example, the scheduling information may be indicated byemploying the frequency resources (for example, subcarriers) fortransmitting the SR. Usually, the base station allocates a group ofsubcarriers to the UE, so as to transmit the SR. A mapping relationshipmay be established between the scheduling information for the BSR andthe respective subcarriers. For example, a first type of schedulinginformation for the BSR (for example, the MCS is BPSK and the number ofrepetitions is 1) is indicated in the SR transmitted by subcarrier 0,and a second type of scheduling information for the BSR (for example,the MCS is BPSK and the number of repetitions is 2) is indicated in theSR transmitted by subcarrier 1, so on and so forth. Thus, the basestation may determine the scheduling information for the BSR by the SRreceived on different subcarriers.

Moreover, for example, the scheduling information for the BSR may beindicated by employing the time resources (for example, subframes) fortransmitting the SR. FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of indicating thescheduling information for the BSR by employing the time resources fortransmitting the SR. Specifically, in a time domain, the time resources(for example, the subframes) for transmitting the SR may be grouped,according to the number n of types of scheduling information (forexample, n is the number of combinations of MCS and the number ofrepetitions, and is an integer greater than or equal to 1), where eachgroup has n time resources, so that a mapping relationship can beestablished between the scheduling information for the BSR and the timeresources (for example, the subframes) for transmitting the SR. Forexample, the mapping relationship may be established, such that a SRtransmitted by a first time resource (subframe t0) in the SR groupindicates the first type of scheduling information for the BSR (forexample, the MCS is BPSK and the number of repetitions is 1), a SRtransmitted by a second time resource (subframe t1) in the SR groupindicates the second type of scheduling information for the BSR (forexample, the MCS is BPSK and the number of repetitions is 2), so on andso forth. Therefore, when receiving the SR, the base station maydetermine the scheduling information for the BSR according to the timeresources (the subframes) employed by the SR. In this case, it isassumed that the number of pieces of scheduling information to beindicated is m, m is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and aninterval among the n time resources for transmitting the SR isSR_period. Thus, a maximum time required for indicating the wholescheduling information is SR_period*m.

In addition to employing one type of the time resources, the frequencyresources and the code resources for transmitting the SR to indicate thescheduling information for the BSR, a combination of two or three typesof the time resources, the code resources and the frequency resourcesfor transmitting the SR may also be employed to indicated the schedulinginformation for the BSR.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of indicating the schedulinginformation for the BSR by employing a combination of the time resourcesand the code resources (the sequences) for transmitting the SR. As shownin FIG. 5 , it is assumed that the number of sequences available fortransmitting the SR is k, and k is an integer greater than or equal to2. The SR can map different scheduling information for the BSR todifferent combinations of the time resources and the sequences. Forexample, the SR transmitted by employing sequence s1 in subframe t0indicates the first type of scheduling information for the BSR (forexample, the MCS is BPSK and the number of repetitions is 1), and the SRtransmitted by employing sequence s2 in subframe t0 indicates the secondtype of scheduling information for the BSR (for example, the MCS is BPSKand the number of repetitions is 2), . . . , a SR transmitted byemploying sequence sk in subframe t(n−1) indicates an (n−1)^(th) type ofscheduling information for the BSR (for example, the MCS is QPSK and thenumber of repetitions is 16), so on and so forth. Therefore, the basestation may determine the scheduling information for the BSR accordingto the time resources and sequences for the SR. In the case of FIG. 5 ,a maximum time required to indicate the whole scheduling information isSR_period*m/k, which is shortened as compared with the case of FIG. 4 .

It should be noted that, although the scheduling information and variouscombinations are described above with the MCS and the number ofrepetitions as an example, it is not limitative. The schedulinginformation may include other items, and accordingly, there may be othercombinations.

Returning to FIG. 3 , in step S320, the UE transmits to the base stationthe BSR by employing the scheduling information for the BSR indicated bythe SR. Therefore, the base station does not need to transmit to the UEthe uplink grant for transmitting the scheduling information for theBSR.

Then, in step S330, the UE receives, from the base station, the UL grantindicating scheduling information for transmitting the uplink data.

Specifically, after receiving the BSR, the base station may process(demodulate and decode, etc.) the BSR according to the schedulinginformation indicated by the SR received in step S310, and determine thevolume of uplink data reported by the BSR to be transmitted by the UE tothe base station. Then, the base station may allocate to the UE uplinkscheduling information, so that the UE may transmit the uplink data byemploying the scheduling information. The base station may notify theuser equipment of the allocated scheduling information by transmittingthe UL grant to the UE. Therefore, in the implementation mode, it may beconsidered that the base station determines the volume of the uplinkdata by the SR, and correspondingly allocates the schedulinginformation. In other words, step S320 and step S330 may correspond tostep S220 shown in FIG. 2 .

In step S340, the UE transmits to the base station the uplink data byemploying the scheduling information. The step may correspond to stepS230 described in FIG. 2 .

In the first implementation mode, as described above, the UE notifiesthe base station of the scheduling information for the BSR by the SR,and subsequently transmits to the base station the BSR by employing thescheduling information. Thus, the base station is no longer required todetermine the scheduling information for the BSR and transmit thescheduling information to the UE by the UL grant, and thus, step S1702shown in FIG. 17 can be omitted, thereby simplifying the flow.

Returning to FIG. 2 , in a second implementation mode according to thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure, the SR indicates the volumeof the uplink data (the whole uplink data) to be transmitted by the UEto the base station.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic flow chart of a method 600 for transmittinguplink data by a user equipment according to the second implementationmode of the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 6 , in S610, the UE transmits to a base station a SR,where the volume of uplink data is indicated in the SR. The step maycorrespond to step S210 shown in FIG. 2 .

In the NB-IoT system, the volume of data (DV) may be divided into 16types, where each type is allocated a DV index, as shown in Table 5below. Of course, this is merely illustrative.

TABLE 5 Index DV (byte) 0 DV = 0    1  0 < DV ≤ 10 2 10 < DV ≤ 14 3 14 <DV ≤ 19 4 19 < DV ≤ 26 5 26 < DV ≤ 36 6 36 < DV ≤ 49 7 49 < DV ≤ 67 8 67< DV ≤ 91 9  91 < DV ≤ 125 10 125 < DV ≤ 171 11 171 < DV ≤ 234 12 234 <DV ≤ 321 13 321 < DV ≤ 768 14  768 < DV ≤ 1500 15 DV ≥ 1500

In one example, the SR may explicitly indicate the volume of the uplinkdata. Specifically, information bits for indicating the volume of theuplink data may be padded or set in the SR. The padded information bitsmay directly indicate the volume of the uplink data, for example, asshown in Table 6, and may also indicate an index corresponding to eachvolume, for example, one of indexes 0 to 15 as shown in Table 5.

TABLE 6 Bit information DV (byte) 0000 DV = 0 0001  0 < DV ≤ 10 0010 10< DV ≤ 14 0011 14 < DV ≤ 19 . . . . . .

In another example, the SR may implicitly indicate the volume of theuplink data. Specifically, the volume of the uplink data may beindicated by resources for transmitting the SR, and the resources fortransmitting the SR include at least one type of time resources,frequency resources and code resources for transmitting the SR. Forexample, the volume of the uplink data may be indicated by coderesources (sequences) for transmitting the SR, for example, as shown inTable 7 below, or the volume of the uplink data may also be indicated bya combination of the code resources (the sequences) and frequencyresources (subcarriers), for example, as shown in Table 8 below.

TABLE 7 Sequence index DV (byte) 0 DV = 0 1  0 < DV ≤ 10 2 10 < DV ≤ 143 14 < DV ≤ 19 . . . . . .

TABLE 8 Sequence index Sequence 1 Sequence 2 Sequence 3 Sequence 4Subcarrier DV (byte) Subcarrier 1 DV = 0  0 < DV ≤ 10 10 < DV ≤ 14 14 <DV ≤ 19 Subcarrier 2 19 < DV ≤ 26 26 < DV ≤ 36 36 < DV ≤ 49 49 < DV ≤ 67Subcarrier 3 67 < DV ≤ 91  91 < DV ≤ 125 125 < DV ≤ 171 171 < DV ≤ 234Subcarrier 4 234 < DV ≤ 321 321 < DV ≤ 768  768 < DV ≤ 1500 DV > 1500

A mode of indicating the volume of the uplink data by the resources fortransmitting the SR is similar to the mode of indicating the schedulinginformation for the BSR by the resources for transmitting the SR asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , and no detailswill be repeated here.

Further referring to FIG. 6 , in S620, an uplink grant indicatingscheduling information for transmitting the uplink data is received fromthe base station. The step may correspond to step S220 described abovewith reference to FIG. 2 .

Specifically, after receiving the SR, the base station may determine thevolume of the uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the basestation. Then, the base station may allocate to the UE the uplinkscheduling information, so that the UE may transmit the uplink data byemploying the scheduling information. The base station may notify theuser equipment of the allocated scheduling information by transmittingthe UL grant to the UE.

In S630, the uplink data is transmitted to the base station by employingthe scheduling information.

In the second implementation mode, as described above, the UE notifiesthe base station of the volume of the uplink data to be transmitted tothe base station by the SR, so that the base station is no longerrequired to determine the scheduling information for the BSR andtransmit the scheduling information to the UE by the UL grant. Moreover,the UE is not required to transmit the BSR. Thus, step S1702 and stepS1703 shown in FIG. 17 may be omitted, thereby simplifying the flow.

Returning to FIG. 2 , in a third implementation mode according to thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure, the SR indicates whether thevolume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the user equipmentis greater than a threshold. The threshold may be predetermined betweenthe user equipment and the base station.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic flow chart of a method 700 for transmittinguplink data according to the third implementation mode of the firstembodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be performed by auser equipment.

As shown in FIG. 7 , in step S710, the UE transmits to a base station aSR, the SR indicating whether the volume of whole uplink data to betransmitted by the user equipment is greater than a threshold. The stepmay correspond to step S210 shown in FIG. 2 . The SR may explicitly orimplicitly indicate whether the volume of the whole uplink data to betransmitted by the user equipment is greater than the threshold.

In one example, the SR may explicitly indicate whether the volume of thewhole uplink data to be transmitted is greater than the threshold.Specifically, information bits for indicating whether the volume of thewhole uplink data to be transmitted is greater than the threshold may bepadded or set in the SR. For example, 1 bit may be employed to indicatewhether the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted is greaterthan the threshold. Specifically, when the bit is “0”, it indicates thatthe volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted is not greaterthan the threshold, and when the bit is “1”, it indicates that thevolume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted is greater than thethreshold.

In another example, the SR may implicitly indicate whether the volume ofthe whole uplink data to be transmitted is greater than the threshold.Specifically, resources for transmitting the SR may be employed toindicate whether the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmittedis greater than the threshold, and the resources for transmitting the SRinclude at least one type of time resources, frequency resources andcode resources for transmitting the SR. For example, a correspondingrelationship may be established between the time resources, thefrequency resource, the code resources, or some combination thereof fortransmitting the SR, and whether the volume of the whole uplink data tobe transmitted is greater than the threshold, such that one type of thetime resources, the frequency resources and the code resources or acombination thereof corresponds to that the volume of the whole uplinkdata to be transmitted is greater than the threshold, while another typeof the time resources, the frequency resources and the code resources ora combination thereof corresponds to that the volume of the whole uplinkdata to be transmitted is not greater than the threshold. A mode ofindicating whether the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmittedis greater than the threshold by the resources for transmitting the SRis similar to the mode of indicating the scheduling information for theBSR by the resources for transmitting the SR as described above withreference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , and no details will be repeated here.

Returning to FIG. 7 , when the base station determines that the volumeof the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the user equipment is notgreater than the threshold according to the SR, the base station mayallocate scheduling information for transmitting the uplink dataaccording to the threshold. For example, the base station may allocatescheduling information to the uplink data with a volume equal to thethreshold. Therefore, in step S720, an uplink grant indicating thescheduling information for transmitting the uplink data with a volumeequal to the threshold is received from the base station. That is, inthis case, the scheduling information employed in step S220 is allocatedby the base station according to the threshold. Then, in step S730, theUE may transmit to the base station the whole uplink data by employingthe scheduling information.

When the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the userequipment is greater than the threshold, the base station may allocatescheduling information to the uplink data with a volume equal to thethreshold, so that the UE may firstly transmit to the base station theuplink data with a volume equal to the threshold by employing thescheduling information. In this case, in step S740, the uplink grantindicating the scheduling information for transmitting the uplink datawith a volume equal to the threshold is received from the base station.Then, in order to notify the base station of the volume of remaininguplink data, in step S750, the UE transmits to the base station theuplink data (that is, the uplink data with a volume equal to thethreshold) by employing the scheduling information allocated by the basestation, and when transmitting the uplink data, the UE may also indicatethe volume of the remaining uplink data to be transmitted by the UE tothe base station by employing the transmitted uplink data. The volume ofthe remaining uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the basestation may be explicitly or implicitly indicated in the uplink data. Itshould be noted that, although it is described here that the basestation allocates scheduling information for the uplink data with avolume equal to the threshold, it is merely illustrative. The basestation may also allocate scheduling information for uplink data withother volume (e.g., less than the threshold).

The volume of the remaining uplink data may be explicitly indicated inthe uplink data. In one example, the volume of the remaining uplink datamay be indicated by padding additional information bits in the uplinkdata. As described above, referring to Table 4, the information bits maybe employed to indicate the volume of the remaining uplink data, and mayalso indicate an index number corresponding to the volume of theremaining uplink data.

The volume of the remaining uplink data may also be implicitly indicatedin the uplink data. In another example, the volume of the remaininguplink data may be indicated by employing a sequence for scrambling theuplink data. For example, a corresponding relationship may beestablished between the sequence and the volume of the remaining uplinkdata, such that each sequence may indicate the corresponding volume ofthe remaining uplink data. As an example of the scrambling sequence, theuplink data may be scrambled by employing a sequence c(n),n=0, 1, 2, . .. , M_(FN)−1, where, M_(PN) is a length of the sequence c(n), and c(n)is determined according to a Gold sequence having a length of 31, byemploying Equation 1 below.

c(n)=(x ₁(n+N _(C))+x ₂(n+N _(C)))mod 2

x ₁(n+31)=(x ₁(n+3)+x ₁(n))mod 2  Equation 1

x ₂(n+31)=(x ₂(n+3)+x ₂(n+2)+x ₂(n+1)+x ₂(n))mod 2

A symbol “mod” indicates a modulo operation, N_(C)=1600, a firstsequence x₁(n) is initialized by employing x₁(0)=1, x₁ (n)=0, n=1, 2, .. . , 30, and a second sequence x₁(n) is initialized by employingEquation 2 and Equation 3 below.

c _(init)=Seq(DV_remaining)·2¹⁴ +q·2¹³ +└n _(s)/2┘·2⁹ +N _(ID)^(cell)  Equation 2

c _(init)=Σ_(i=0) ³⁰ x ₂(i)·2^(i)  Equation 3

c_(init) represents an initial value of c(n), q is a sequence number ofa codeword, q∈{0,1}, n_(s) is a slot number in a radio frame, N_(ID)^(cell) is a cell identifier (ID), and Seq(DV_remaining) represents asequence related to the volume of the remaining uplink data. It can beseen that each sequence corresponds to a volume of remaining uplinkdata, so as to indicate the corresponding volume of remaining uplinkdata. It should be noted that the embodiments of the present disclosureare not limited thereto. Other sequences may also be employed toimplicitly indicate the volume of the remaining uplink data.

When the base station receives the uplink data transmitted by the UEthat indicates the volume of the remaining uplink data, the base stationobtains the volume of the remaining uplink data by demodulating/decodingthe uplink data, allocates scheduling information for transmitting theremaining uplink data, and transmits to the user equipment an uplinkgrant indicating the scheduling information for transmitting theremaining uplink data.

Returning to FIG. 7 , in step S760, the UE receives, from the basestation, an uplink grant indicating the scheduling information fortransmitting the remaining uplink data, and in step S750, the UEtransmits to the base station the remaining uplink data by employing thescheduling information.

In the schematic flow chart shown in FIG. 7 , step S710 may correspondto step S210 in FIG. 2 , step S720 and step S740 may correspond to stepS220 in FIG. 2 , and step S730 and step S750 to step S770 may correspondto step S230 in FIG. 2 .

In the third implementation mode, as described above, the UE notifiesthe base station of whether the volume of the whole uplink data to betransmitted is greater than the threshold by the SR, so that the basestation is no longer required to determine the scheduling informationfor the BSR and transmit the scheduling information to the UE by the ULgrant, and the UE is not required to transmit the BSR. Thus, step S1702and step S1703 shown in FIG. 17 may be omitted, thereby simplifying theflow.

Returning to FIG. 2 , in a fourth implementation mode according to thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure, the SR indicates the volumeof a part of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the userequipment.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic flow chart of a method 800 for transmittinguplink data according to the fourth implementation mode of the firstembodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be performed by auser equipment.

As shown in FIG. 8 , in step S810, the UE transmits to a base station aSR, the SR indicating the volume of a part of whole uplink data to betransmitted by the user equipment. The step may correspond to step S210shown in FIG. 2 . The SR may explicitly or implicitly indicate thevolume of a part of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the userequipment.

In one example, the volume of a part of the whole uplink data to betransmitted may be explicitly indicated. Specifically, information bitsfor indicating the volume of a part of the whole uplink data to betransmitted may be padded or set in the SR. For example, bit informationof 2 bits may be employed to indicate the volume of a part of the wholeuplink data to be transmitted. Specifically, when the bit information is“00”, it indicates a first volume of uplink data; when the bitinformation is “01”, it indicates a second volume of uplink data; whenthe bit information is “10”, it indicates a third volume of uplink data;and when the bit information is “11”, it indicates a fourth volume ofuplink data. Of course, the embodiments of the present disclosure arenot limited thereto.

In another example, the volume of a part of the whole uplink data to betransmitted may be implicitly indicated. Specifically, the volume of apart of the whole uplink data to be transmitted may be indicated byresources for transmitting the SR, and the resources for transmittingthe SR include at least one type of time resources, frequency resourcesand code resources for transmitting the SR. A mode of indicating thevolume of a part of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by theresources for transmitting the SR is similar to the mode of indicatingthe scheduling information for the BSR by the resources for transmittingthe SR as described above with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , and nodetails will be repeated here.

Returning to FIG. 8 , in step S820, an uplink grant indicatingscheduling information for transmitting the part of uplink data isreceived from the base station. The step may correspond to step S220described above with reference to FIG. 2 .

Specifically, after receiving the SR, the base station may determine thevolume of a part of the uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to thebase station. Then, the base station may allocate to the UE uplinkscheduling information, so that the UE may transmit the part of uplinkdata by employing the scheduling information. The base station maynotify the user equipment of the allocated scheduling information bytransmitting the UL grant to the UE.

In step S830, the UE transmits to the base station the part of uplinkdata by employing the scheduling information. In this case, the UE mayindicate the volume of remaining uplink data to be transmitted by the UEto the base station in the transmitted part of uplink data. Similar tostep S750 in FIG. 7 , the volume of the remaining uplink data to betransmitted by the UE to the base station may be explicitly orimplicitly indicated in the part of uplink data, and no details will berepeated here.

When the base station receives the part of uplink data indicating thevolume of the remaining uplink data, the base station obtains the volumeof the remaining uplink data by demodulating/decoding the part of uplinkdata, allocates scheduling information for transmitting the remaininguplink data, and transmits to the user equipment an uplink grantindicating the scheduling information for transmitting the remaininguplink data.

Returning to FIG. 8 , in step S840, the UE receives, from the basestation, an uplink grant indicating the scheduling information fortransmitting the remaining uplink data, and in step S850, the UEtransmits to the base station the remaining uplink data by employing thescheduling information.

In the fourth implementation mode, the base station may determine thevolume of the whole uplink data, by combining the volume of a part ofthe whole uplink data indicated in the SR and the volume of theremaining uplink data carried in the transmitted part of uplink data.For example, Table 9 below shows an example that the base stationdetermines the volume of the whole uplink data, in a case where thevolume of a part of the whole uplink data is indicated by employing 2bits in the SR and the volume of the remaining uplink data is indicatedby employing the code resources (the sequences) for transmitting thepart of uplink data.

TABLE 9 Sequence number & Bit information DV (byte) S0&0 DV = 0    S1&0 0 < DV ≤ 10 S2&0 10 < DV ≤ 14 S3&0 14 < DV ≤ 19 S0&1 19 < DV ≤ 26 S1&126 < DV ≤ 36 S2&1 36 < DV ≤ 49 S3&1 49 < DV ≤ 67 S0&2 67 < DV ≤ 91 S1&2 91 < DV ≤ 125 S2&2 125 < DV ≤ 171 S3&2 171 < DV ≤ 234 S0&3 234 < DV ≤321 S1&3 321 < DV ≤ 768 S2&3  768 < DV ≤ 1500 S3&3 DV ≥ 1500

In the schematic flow chart shown in FIG. 8 , step S810 may correspondto step S210 in FIG. 2 , step S820 may correspond to step S220 in FIG. 2, and step S830 to step S850 may correspond to step S230 in FIG. 2 .

In the fourth implementation mode, as described above, the UE notifiesthe base station of the volume of a part of the whole uplink data to betransmitted by the SR, so that the base station is no longer required todetermine the scheduling information for the BSR and transmit thescheduling information to the UE by the UL grant and the UE is notrequired to transmit the BSR. Thus, step S1702 and step S1703 shown inFIG. 17 may be omitted, thereby simplifying the flow.

Hereinafter, the user equipment (UE) according to the first embodimentof the present disclosure will be described. The UE may perform theabove-described methods. Here, for convenience of description,description of details that is the same as those of the above-describedmethods is omitted.

FIG. 9 shows a structural schematic diagram of a user equipment 900according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 9 , the UE 900 comprises a transmitting unit 910 and areceiving unit 920. It should be noted that, FIG. 9 only shows the unitsin the UE 900 that are closely related to the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. However, it is merely illustrative. The UE 900 may compriseother units if needed.

The transmitting unit 910 may transmit to a base station a schedulerequest (SR).

The receiving unit 920 may receive, from the base station, an uplinkgrant indicating scheduling information for transmitting uplink data,where, the scheduling information is allocated by the base stationaccording to the volume of the uplink data, the volume being determinedby the SR.

Then, the transmitting unit 910 may further transmit to the base stationthe uplink data by employing the scheduling information.

As described above, according to the first implementation mode of thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure, the SR indicates schedulinginformation for a buffer status report (BSR), and the BSR indicates thevolume of the uplink data (the whole uplink data to be transmitted bythe UE to the base station).

In one example, the scheduling information for the BSR may be explicitlyindicated by the SR. Specifically, information bits for indicating thescheduling information for the BSR may be padded or set in the SR. Thescheduling information for the BSR may be indicated with reference toTable 1 and Table 2 above. The scheduling information for the BSR mayalso be indicated by employing a mapping relationship with reference toTable 3 above.

In another example, the scheduling information for the BSR may beimplicitly indicated by the SR. For example, the scheduling informationfor the BSR may be implicitly indicated by resources for transmittingthe SR, where, the resources for transmitting the SR may include atleast one types of time resources, frequency resources and coderesources for transmitting the SR. The case of indicating the schedulinginformation for the BSR by the resources for transmitting the SR hasbeen specifically described with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , and nodetails will be repeated here.

Before receiving the uplink grant indicating the scheduling informationfor transmitting the uplink data from the base station, the transmittingunit 910 further transmits the BSR according to the schedulinginformation for the BSR indicated by the SR. The base station mayreceive the BSR transmitted by the UE according to the schedulinginformation, determine the volume of the uplink data to be transmittedby the UE to the base station according to the BSR, allocate schedulinginformation for transmitting the uplink data, and transmit thescheduling information to the UE by the UL grant.

Moreover, as described above, according to the second implementationmode of the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the SR indicatesthe volume of the uplink data (the whole uplink data to be transmittedby the UE to the base station). In one example, the volume of the uplinkdata may be explicitly indicated by the SR. Specifically, informationbits for indicating the volume of the uplink data may be padded or setin the SR. For example, the information bits may be employed to directlyindicate the volume of the uplink data, and the information bits mayalso be employed to indicate an index corresponding to each volume withreference to Table 5 above.

In another example, the SR may implicitly indicate the volume of theuplink data. Specifically, the volume of the uplink data may beindicated by resources for transmitting the SR, and the resources fortransmitting the SR include at least one type of time resources,frequency resources and code resources for transmitting the SR. A caseof indicating the volume of the uplink data by the resources fortransmitting the SR is similar to the case of indicating the schedulinginformation for the BSR by the resources for transmitting the SR asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , and no detailswill be repeated here.

After receiving the SR, the base station may determine the volume of theuplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the base station according tothe SR, allocate the scheduling information for transmitting the uplinkdata, and transmit the scheduling information to the UE by the UL grant.

In addition, as described above, according to the third implementationmode of the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the SR indicateswhether the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by theuser equipment is greater than a threshold. The threshold may bepredetermined between the UE and the base station. The SR may explicitlyor implicitly indicate whether the volume of the whole uplink data to betransmitted by the user equipment is greater than the threshold.

In one example, information bits may be employed to explicitly indicatewhether the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted is greaterthan the threshold. Specifically, the information bits for indicatingwhether the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted is greaterthan the threshold may be padded in the SR. For example, 1 bit may beemployed to indicate whether the volume of the whole uplink data to betransmitted is greater than the threshold. Specifically, when the bit is“0”, it indicates that the volume of the whole uplink data to betransmitted is not greater than the threshold; and when the bit is “1”,it indicates that the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmittedis greater than the threshold.

In another example, information bits may be employed to implicitlyindicate whether the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmittedis greater than the threshold. Specifically, resources for transmittingthe SR may be employed to indicate whether the volume of the wholeuplink data to be transmitted is greater than the threshold, and theresources for transmitting the SR include at least one type of timeresources, frequency resources and code resources for transmitting theSR. A case of indicating whether the volume of the whole uplink data tobe transmitted is greater than the threshold by the resources fortransmitting the SR is similar to the case of indicating the schedulinginformation for the BSR by the resources for transmitting the SR asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , and no detailswill be repeated here.

When the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the userequipment is not greater than the threshold, the base station allocatesthe scheduling information for transmitting uplink data with a volumeequal to the threshold. That is, the scheduling information fortransmitting the uplink data is allocated by the base station accordingto the threshold. Then, the base station may transmit the schedulinginformation to the UE by the UL grant. At this time, the transmittingunit 910 may transmit to the base station the whole uplink data byemploying the scheduling information.

When the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the userequipment is greater than the threshold, the base station may allocatescheduling information for transmitting uplink data with a volume equalto the threshold. Then, the base station may transmit the schedulinginformation to the UE by the UL grant. The receiving unit 920 receivesthe UL grant, and the transmitting unit 910 may firstly transmit to thebase station the uplink data with a volume equal to the threshold byemploying the scheduling information. In this case, the transmittingunit 910 may further indicate the volume of remaining uplink data to betransmitted by the UE to the base station by the uplink data. The volumeof the remaining uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the basestation may be explicitly or implicitly indicated by the uplink data.For example, the volume of the remaining uplink data may be explicitlyindicated by employing information bits in the uplink data or implicitlyindicated by employing a sequence for scrambling the uplink data. Aspecific mode of indicating the volume of the remaining uplink data tobe transmitted to the base station by the uplink data has been describedabove, and no details will be repeated here. It should be noted that,although it is described here that the base station allocates schedulinginformation for the uplink data with a volume equal to the threshold, itis merely illustrative. The base station may also allocate schedulinginformation for uplink data with other volume (e.g., less than thethreshold).

After receiving a part of uplink data transmitted by the UE (forexample, the uplink data with a volume equal to the threshold), the basestation obtains information on the volume of remaining uplink data byprocessing (for example, demodulating/decoding) the part of uplink datareceived, allocates scheduling information for transmitting theremaining uplink data, and transmits to the user equipment an uplinkgrant indicating the scheduling information for transmitting theremaining uplink data. The receiving unit 920 may receive the uplinkgrant from the base station, and the transmitting unit 910 transmits tothe base station the remaining uplink data by employing the schedulinginformation for transmitting the remaining uplink data.

As described above, according to the fourth implementation mode of thefirst embodiment of the present disclosure, the SR indicates the volumeof a part of the whole uplink data. The SR may explicitly or implicitlyindicate the volume of a part of the whole uplink data to be transmittedby the user equipment. As described above, the volume of a part of thewhole uplink data to be transmitted may be indicated by information bits(for example, 2 bits) in the SR or by resources for transmitting the SR,and the resources for transmitting the SR include at least one type oftime resources, frequency resources and code resources for transmittingthe SR. A mode of indicating the volume of a part of the whole uplinkdata to be transmitted by the resources for transmitting the SR issimilar to the mode of indicating the scheduling information for the BSRby the resources for transmitting the SR as described above withreference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , and no details will be repeated here.

After receiving the SR, the base station may determine the volume of thepart of uplink data indicated thereby, allocate scheduling informationfor the part of data, and transmit the scheduling information to the UEby the UL grant, so that the transmitting unit 910 may transmit to thebase station the part of uplink data by employing the schedulinginformation. In addition, the transmitting unit 910 may further indicatethe volume of remaining uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to thebase station by the uplink data. The volume of the remaining uplink datamay be explicitly or implicitly indicated in the uplink data. A specificindication method has been described above, and no details will berepeated here.

After receiving the part of uplink data transmitted by the UE, the basestation may determine the volume of the remaining uplink data, allocatethe scheduling information for transmitting the remaining uplink data,and transmit the scheduling information to the UE by the UL grant. Thereceiving unit 920 receives the UL grant from the base station, and thetransmitting unit 910 transmits to the base station the remaining uplinkdata by employing the scheduling information.

Hereinafter, a method of receiving uplink data by a base stationaccording to the first embodiment of the present disclosure will bedescribed.

FIG. 10 shows a schematic flow chart of a method 1000 for receivinguplink data by a base station according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure. The method may be performed by the base station.

As shown in FIG. 10 , in step S1010, the base station receives, from auser equipment, a schedule request (SR). In step S1020, the base stationtransmits, to the user equipment, an uplink grant indicating schedulinginformation for transmitting uplink data, where the schedulinginformation is allocated by the base station according to the volume ofthe uplink data, the volume being determined according to the SR. Instep S1030, the base station receives, from the user equipment, theuplink data transmitted by employing the scheduling information.

According to the first implementation mode of the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the SR received by the base station from theuser equipment indicates scheduling information for a BSR. As describedabove, the SR may explicitly or implicitly indicate the schedulinginformation for the BSR. Accordingly, the base station may determine thescheduling information for the BSR according to the SR in acorresponding mode. Therefore, before transmitting the uplink grantindicating the scheduling information for transmitting the uplink data,the base station may receive, from the user equipment, the BSR accordingto the scheduling information for the BSR indicated by the SR, to obtainthe volume of uplink data to be transmitted by the user equipment, mayallocate scheduling information for transmitting the uplink data, andmay transmit to the UE the UL grant indicating the schedulinginformation.

According to the second implementation mode of the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the SR received by the base station from theuser equipment indicates the volume of uplink data to be transmitted bythe UE. As described above, the SR may explicitly or implicitly indicatethe volume of the uplink data to be transmitted by the UE. Accordingly,the base station may determine the volume of the uplink data to betransmitted by the UE according to the SR in a corresponding mode. Then,the base station allocates the scheduling information for transmittingthe uplink data, and transmits to the UE the UL grant indicating thescheduling information.

According to the third implementation mode of the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the SR received by the base station from theuser equipment indicates whether the volume of the whole uplink data tobe transmitted by the user equipment is greater than a threshold. Asdescribed above, the SR may explicitly or implicitly indicate whetherthe volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the userequipment is greater than the threshold. Accordingly, the base stationmay determine whether the volume of the whole uplink data to betransmitted by the user equipment is greater than the threshold by theSR in a corresponding mode. When the SR received from the user equipmentindicates that the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted bythe user equipment is not greater than the threshold, the base stationallocates the scheduling information for transmitting the uplink dataaccording to the threshold. That is, the base station allocatesscheduling information for transmitting uplink data with a volume equalto the threshold, and transmits to the user equipment an uplink grantindicating the scheduling information.

In addition, when the SR received from the user equipment indicates thatthe volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the userequipment is greater than the threshold, the base station allocates thescheduling information for transmitting the uplink data according to thethreshold. That is, the base station allocates the schedulinginformation for transmitting the uplink data with a volume equal to thethreshold, and transmits to the UE an uplink grant indicating thescheduling information, so that the UE transmits the uplink data with avolume equal to the threshold by employing the scheduling information.In addition, as described above, the volume of remaining uplink data tobe transmitted by the UE to the base station is also explicitly orimplicitly indicated in the uplink data Thus, the base station maydetermine the volume of the remaining uplink data in a correspondingmode, allocate scheduling information for transmitting the remaininguplink data, and transmit to the UE an uplink grant indicating thescheduling information, so that the UE transmits to the base station theremaining uplink data by employing the scheduling information. Then, thebase station may receive the remaining uplink data transmitted by the UEby employing the scheduling information.

According to the fourth implementation mode of the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the SR received by the base station from theuser equipment indicates the volume of a part of the whole uplink datato be transmitted by the user equipment. As described above, the SR mayexplicitly or implicitly indicate the volume of a part of the wholeuplink data to be transmitted by the user equipment. Accordingly, thebase station may determine the volume of a part of the whole uplink datato be transmitted by the user equipment according to the SR in acorresponding mode. Then, the base station may allocate schedulinginformation for transmitting the part of uplink data, and transmit tothe user equipment an uplink grant indicating the schedulinginformation, so that the UE transmits the uplink data with a volumeequal to the threshold by employing the scheduling information. Inaddition, as described above, the volume of remaining uplink data to betransmitted by the UE to the base station is also explicitly orimplicitly indicated in the uplink data. Thus, the base station maydetermine the volume of the remaining uplink data in a correspondingmode, allocate scheduling information for transmitting the remaininguplink data, and transmit to the UE an uplink grant indicating thescheduling information, so that the UE transmits to the base station theremaining uplink data by employing the scheduling information. Then, thebase station may receive the remaining uplink data transmitted by the UEby employing the scheduling information.

Hereinafter, a base station according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure will be described.

FIG. 11 shows a structural schematic diagram of a base station 1100according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 11 , the base station 1100 comprises a receiving unit1110, an obtaining unit 1120 and a transmitting unit 1130. It should benoted that, FIG. 11 only shows the units in the base station 1100 thatare closely related to the embodiment of the present disclosure.However, it is merely illustrative. The base station 1100 may compriseother units if needed.

As shown in FIG. 11 , in step S1010, the receiving unit 1110 receives,from a user equipment, a schedule request (SR). The transmitting unit1130 transmits to the user equipment an uplink grant indicatingscheduling information for transmitting uplink data, where thescheduling information is allocated by the base station according to thevolume of the uplink data, the volume being determined according to theSR. The receiving unit 1110 receives, from the user equipment, theuplink data transmitted by employing the scheduling information. Theobtaining unit 1120 determines the volume of the uplink data by the SR.

According to the first implementation mode of the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the SR received by the receiving unit 1110 fromthe user equipment indicates scheduling information for a BSR. Asdescribed above, the SR may explicitly or implicitly indicate thescheduling information for the BSR. Accordingly, the obtaining unit 1120may determine the scheduling information for the BSR according to the SRin a corresponding mode. Therefore, before transmitting the uplink grantindicating the scheduling information for transmitting the uplink data,the base station may receive, by the obtaining unit 1120, the BSR fromthe user equipment according to the scheduling information for the BSRindicated by the SR to obtain the volume of uplink data to betransmitted by the user equipment, may allocate scheduling informationfor transmitting the uplink data, and may transmit, by the transmittingunit 1130, a UL grant indicating the scheduling information to the UE.

According to the second implementation mode of the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the SR received by the receiving unit 1110 fromthe user equipment indicates the volume of uplink data to be transmittedby the UE. As described above, the SR may explicitly or implicitlyindicate the volume of the uplink data to be transmitted by the UE.Accordingly, the obtaining unit 1120 may determine the volume of theuplink data to be transmitted by the UE according to the SR in acorresponding mode. Then, the base station allocates schedulinginformation for transmitting the uplink data, and the transmitting unit1130 transmits to the UE the UL grant indicating the schedulinginformation.

According to the third implementation mode of the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the SR received by the receiving unit 1110 fromthe user equipment indicates whether the volume of the whole uplink datato be transmitted by the user equipment is greater than a threshold. Asdescribed above, the SR may explicitly or implicitly indicate whetherthe volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the userequipment is greater than the threshold. Accordingly, the obtaining unit1120 may determine whether the volume of the whole uplink data to betransmitted by the user equipment is greater than the threshold by theSR in a corresponding mode. When the SR received from the user equipmentindicates that the volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted bythe user equipment is not greater than the threshold, the base stationallocates scheduling information for transmitting the uplink dataaccording to the threshold. That is, the base station allocatesscheduling information for transmitting uplink data with a volume equalto the threshold, and the transmitting unit 1130 transmits to the userequipment an uplink grant indicating the scheduling information.

In addition, when the SR received from the user equipment indicates thatthe volume of the whole uplink data to be transmitted by the userequipment is greater than the threshold, the base station allocates thescheduling information for transmitting the uplink data according to thethreshold. That is, the base station allocates the schedulinginformation for transmitting the uplink data with a volume equal to thethreshold, and the transmitting unit 1130 transmits to the UE an uplinkgrant indicating the scheduling information, so that the UE transmitsthe uplink data with a volume equal to the threshold by employing thescheduling information. In addition, as described above, the volume ofremaining uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the base station isalso explicitly or implicitly indicated in the uplink data. Thus, theobtaining unit 1120 may determine the volume of the remaining uplinkdata in a corresponding mode and allocate scheduling information fortransmitting the remaining uplink data, and the transmitting unit 1130transmits to the UE an uplink grant indicating the schedulinginformation, so that the UE transmits the remaining uplink data to thebase station by employing the scheduling information. Then, thereceiving unit 1110 may receive the remaining uplink data transmitted bythe UE by employing the scheduling information.

According to the fourth implementation mode of the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the SR received by the receiving unit 1110 fromthe user equipment indicates the volume of a part of the whole uplinkdata to be transmitted by the user equipment. As described above, the SRmay explicitly or implicitly indicate the volume of a part of the wholeuplink data to be transmitted by the user equipment. Accordingly, theobtaining unit 1120 may determine the volume of a part of the wholeuplink data to be transmitted by the user equipment according to the SRin a corresponding mode. Then, the base station may allocate schedulinginformation for transmitting the part of uplink data, and thetransmitting unit 1130 transmits to the user equipment an uplink grantindicating the scheduling information, so that the UE transmits theuplink data with a volume equal to the threshold by employing thescheduling information. In addition, as described above, the volume ofthe remaining uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the basestation is also explicitly or implicitly indicated in the uplink data.Thus, the obtaining unit 1120 may determine the volume of the remaininguplink data in a corresponding mode, and allocate scheduling informationfor transmitting the remaining uplink data, and the transmitting unit1130 transmits to the UE an uplink grant indicating the schedulinginformation, so that the UE transmits to the base station the remaininguplink data by employing the scheduling information. Then, the receivingunit 1110 may receive the remaining uplink data transmitted by the UE byemploying the scheduling information.

In the above-described first embodiment, the SR is employed to indicatethe scheduling information for the BSR, the volume of the uplink data tobe transmitted, whether the volume of the uplink data is greater thanthe threshold, or the volume of a part of the whole uplink data to betransmitted, so as to notify the base station of the volume of theuplink data to be transmitted.

In a second embodiment of the present disclosure, a base station may notbe notified of the volume of uplink data to be transmitted. In oneimplementation mode, a UE may notify the base station that the UE is tostart transmitting uplink data by transmitting to the base station a SR,and then may transmit the uplink data by employing predefined schedulinginformation. In another implementation mode, the UE may request the basestation to schedule scheduling information for transmitting uplink databy transmitting to the base station a SR, and then transmit the uplinkdata by employing the scheduling information scheduled by the basestation.

Hereinafter, a method for transmitting uplink data by a user equipmentaccording to the second embodiment of the present disclosure will bedescribed.

FIG. 12 is a schematic flow chart showing a method 1200 for transmittinguplink data by a user equipment according to the second embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 12 , in step S1210, the UE transmits to a base stationa schedule request SR.

In S1220, the UE transmits to the base station uplink data, where an endof uplink data transmission is indicated by information bits in theuplink data or not transmitting uplink data in a predetermined timeperiod.

In a first implementation mode, the SR transmitted by the UE mayindicate that there is uplink data to be transmitted to the base stationin the UE, so that when receiving the SR, the base station may acquirethat there is uplink data to be transmitted to the base station in theUE. Subsequently, the UE may transmit to the base station the uplinkdata by employing predefined scheduling information. The predefinedscheduling information is known to both the base station and the UE, andmay include, for example, resources, a MCS and/or the number ofrepetitions, and so on. Since the base station knows the predefinedscheduling information, the base station may receive the uplink data byemploying the scheduling information. In addition, the base station doesnot schedule data of other UEs in the scheduling information, so as toavoid collisions between different UEs.

When the predefined scheduling information is insufficient to transmitthe whole uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the base station,the UE may repeat step S1220 until the whole uplink data is transmittedto the base station. However, since the base station does not know thevolume of uplink data to be transmitted by the UE, the base stationcannot determine whether the UE will continue uplink data transmissionthereto, that is, it cannot determine whether uplink data transmissionof the UE ends. In this case, when transmitting uplink data for the lasttime, the UE may indicate to the base station that the uplink data isthe last uplink data. For example, the UE may add an end tag (forexample, 1 bit) in the last transmitted uplink data to indicate that thedata is the last uplink data, that is, indicate the end of uplink datatransmission. Alternatively, when the whole uplink data has beentransmitted to the base station, the UE may no longer transmit uplinkdata to the base station, so that when the base station finds that itdoes not receive uplink data within a predetermined time period, itdetermines that uplink data transmission of the UE ends.

In the first implementation mode, step S1702 to step S1704 shown in FIG.17 may be omitted, thereby simplifying the flow.

In a second implementation mode, after receiving the SR, the basestation may allocate to the UE scheduling information for transmittinguplink data, and transmit to the UE an UL grant indicating thescheduling information, so that the UE may transmit to the base stationthe uplink data by employing the scheduling information allocated by thebase station.

Similarly, since the base station does not know the volume of uplinkdata to be transmitted by the UE, the base station cannot determinewhether the UE will continue uplink data transmission thereto, that is,it cannot determine whether uplink data transmission of the UE ends. Inthis case, after receiving the uplink data transmitted by the UE, thebase station may repeat a process of allocating to the UE schedulinginformation for transmitting uplink data and transmitting to the UE anUL grant indicating the resources, so that the UE can transmit to thebase station the remaining uplink data by employing the schedulinginformation allocated by the base station. On the other hand, whentransmitting uplink data for the last time, the UE may indicate to thebase station that the uplink data is the last uplink data. For example,the UE may add an end tag (for example, 1 bit) in the last transmitteduplink data to indicate that the data is the last uplink data, that is,indicate the end of uplink data transmission. Alternatively, when thewhole uplink data has been transmitted to the base station, the UE mayno longer respond to the UL grant transmitted by the base station, thatis, no longer transmit uplink data to the base station, so that when thebase station finds that it does not receive uplink data within apredetermined time period, it determines that uplink data transmissionof the UE ends.

In the second implementation mode, step S1702 to step S1703 shown inFIG. 17 may be omitted, thereby simplifying the flow.

Hereinafter, a user equipment according to the second embodiment of thepresent disclosure will be described.

FIG. 13 shows a structural schematic diagram of a user equipment 1300according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 13 , the UE 1300 comprises a transmitting unit 1310. Itshould be noted that, FIG. 13 only shows the units in the UE 1300 thatare closely related to the embodiment of the present disclosure.However, it is merely illustrative. The UE 1300 may comprise other unitsif needed.

The transmitting unit 1310 transmits to a base station a schedulerequest SR. In addition, the transmitting unit 1310 further transmits tothe base station uplink data, where an end of uplink data transmissionis indicated by information bits in the uplink data or not transmittinguplink data in a predetermined time period.

In a first implementation mode, the SR transmitted by the transmittingunit 1310 may indicate that there is uplink data to be transmitted tothe base station in the UE, so that when receiving the SR, the basestation may acquire that there is uplink data to be transmitted to thebase station in the UE. Subsequently, the transmitting unit 1310 maytransmit to the base station the uplink data by employing predefinedscheduling information. The predefined scheduling information is knownto both the base station and the UE, and may include, for example,resources, a MCS and/or the number of repetitions, and so on. Since thebase station knows the predefined scheduling information, the basestation may receive the uplink data by employing the schedulinginformation.

When the predefined scheduling information is insufficient to transmitthe whole uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the base station,the transmitting unit 1310 may repeat the above-described transmittingoperation, until the whole uplink data is transmitted to the basestation. However, since the base station does not know the volume ofuplink data to be transmitted by the UE, the base station cannotdetermine whether the UE will continue uplink data transmission thereto,that is, it cannot determine whether uplink data transmission of the UEends. In this case, when transmitting uplink data for the last time, theUE may indicate to the base station that the uplink data is the lastuplink data. For example, the transmitting unit 1310 may add an end tag(for example, 1 bit) in the last transmitted uplink data to indicatethat the data is the last uplink data, that is, indicate the end ofuplink data transmission. Alternatively, when the whole uplink data hasbeen transmitted to the base station, the transmitting unit 1310 may nolonger transmit uplink data to the base station, so that when the basestation finds that it does not receive uplink data within apredetermined time period, it determines that uplink data transmissionof the UE ends.

In a second implementation mode, after receiving the SR, the basestation may allocate to the UE scheduling information for transmittinguplink data, and transmit to the UE a UL grant indicating the schedulinginformation, so that a receiving unit (not shown) of the UE may receivethe UL grant, and then the transmitting unit 1310 may transmit to thebase station the uplink data by employing the scheduling informationallocated by the base station.

Similarly, since the base station does not know the volume of uplinkdata to be transmitted by the UE, the base station cannot determinewhether the UE will continue uplink data transmission thereto, that is,it cannot determine whether uplink data transmission of the UE ends. Inthis case, after receiving the uplink data transmitted by the UE, thebase station may repeat a process of allocating to the UE schedulinginformation for transmitting uplink data and transmitting to the UE a ULgrant indicating the resource, so that the transmitting unit 1310 of theUE can transmit to the base station the remaining uplink data byemploying the scheduling information allocated by the base station. Onthe other hand, when transmitting uplink data for the last time, the UEmay indicate to the base station that the uplink data is the last uplinkdata. For example, the transmitting unit 1310 may add an end tag (forexample, 1 bit) in the last transmitted uplink data to indicate that thedata is the last uplink data, that is, indicate the end of uplink datatransmission. Alternatively, when the whole uplink data has beentransmitted to the base station, the UE may no longer respond to the ULgrant transmitted by the base station, that is, the transmitting unit1310 no longer transmits uplink data to the base station, so that whenthe base station finds that it does not receive uplink data within apredetermined time period, it determines that uplink data transmissionof the UE ends.

Hereinafter, a method of receiving uplink data by a base stationaccording to the second embodiment of the present disclosure will bedescribed.

FIG. 14 is a schematic flow chart showing a method 1400 for receivinguplink data by a base station according to the second embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 14 , in S1410, the base station receives a schedulerequest from a user equipment, and in S1420, receives uplink data fromthe user equipment until an end of uplink data transmission, where theend of uplink data transmission is indicated by an end tag in the uplinkdata or not receiving uplink data in a predetermined time period.

As described above, in a first implementation mode, the SR transmittedby the UE may indicate that there is uplink data to be transmitted tothe base station in the UE, so that when receiving the SR, the basestation may acquire that there is uplink data to be transmitted to thebase station in the UE. Subsequently, the base station may receive theuplink data from the UE by employing predefined scheduling information.

When the predefined scheduling information is insufficient to transmitthe whole uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the base station,the base station may repeat step S1420 until the whole uplink data isreceived. As described above, in the uplink data transmitted for thelast time, the UE may explicitly or implicitly indicate whether uplinkdata transmission ends. Accordingly, the base station may determinewhether uplink data transmission of the UE ends. For example, the basestation may acquire that the data is the last uplink data by an end tag(for example, 1 bit) in the uplink data received from the UE, so as todetermine that uplink data transmission ends. Alternatively, when thebase station finds that it does not receive uplink data within apredetermined time period, it determines that uplink data transmissionof the UE ends.

In a second implementation mode, after receiving the SR, the basestation allocates to the UE scheduling information for transmittinguplink data, and transmits to the UE an UL grant indicating thescheduling information, so that the UE may transmit to the base stationthe uplink data by employing the scheduling information allocated by thebase station.

Similarly, the base station may repeat a process of allocating to the UEscheduling information for transmitting uplink data, and transmitting tothe UE an UL grant indicating the scheduling information. Thus, the basestation may continuously receive the uplink data transmitted by the UE.As described above, in the uplink data transmitted for the last time,the UE may explicitly or implicitly indicate whether uplink datatransmission ends. Accordingly, the base station may determine whetheruplink data transmission of the UE ends. For example, the base stationmay acquire that the data is the last uplink data by an end tag (forexample, 1 bit) in the uplink data received from the UE, so as todetermine that uplink data transmission ends. Alternatively, when thebase station finds that it does not receive uplink data within apredetermined time period, it determines that uplink data transmissionof the UE ends.

Hereinafter, a base station according to the second embodiment of thepresent disclosure will be described.

FIG. 15 shows a structural schematic diagram of a base station 1500according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 15 , the base station 1500 comprises a receiving unit1510. It should be noted that FIG. 15 only shows the units in the basestation 1500 that are closely related to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure. However, it is merely illustrative. The base station 1500may comprise other units if needed.

As shown in FIG. 15 , the receiving unit 1510 may receive a schedulerequest from a user equipment, and may receive uplink data from the userequipment until an end of uplink data transmission, where the end ofuplink data transmission is indicated by an end tag in the uplink dataor not receiving uplink data in a predetermined time period.

As described above, in the first implementation mode, the SR transmittedby the UE may indicate that there is uplink data to be transmitted tothe base station in the UE, so that when receiving the SR, the basestation 1500 may acquire that there is uplink data to be transmitted tothe base station 1500 in the UE. Subsequently, the receiving unit 1510may receive the uplink data from the UE by employing predefinedscheduling information.

When the predefined scheduling information is insufficient to transmitthe whole uplink data to be transmitted by the UE to the base station1500, the receiving unit 1510 may repeatedly receive uplink data fromthe user equipment, until the whole uplink data is received. Asdescribed above, in the uplink data transmitted for the last time, theUE may explicitly or implicitly indicate whether uplink datatransmission ends. Accordingly, the base station 1500 may determinewhether uplink data transmission of the UE ends. For example, the basestation 1500 may acquire that the data is the last uplink data by an endtag (for example, 1 bit) in the uplink data received from the UE, so asto determine that uplink data transmission ends. Alternatively, when thebase station 1500 finds that it does not receive uplink data within apredetermined time period, it determines that uplink data transmissionof the UE ends.

In the second implementation mode, after receiving the SR, the basestation 1500 allocates to the UE scheduling information for transmittinguplink data, and transmits to the UE a UL grant indicating thescheduling information, so that the UE may transmit to the base stationthe uplink data by employing the scheduling information allocated by thebase station 1500.

Similarly, the base station 1500 may repeatedly allocate schedulinginformation for transmitting uplink data to the UE, and the base station1500 may further comprise a transmitting unit (not shown), to transmitto the UE an UL grant indicating the scheduling information. Thus, thereceiving unit 1510 may continuously receive uplink data transmitted bythe UE. As described above, in the uplink data transmitted for the lasttime, the UE may explicitly or implicitly indicate whether uplink datatransmission ends. Accordingly, the base station 1500 may determinewhether uplink data transmission of the UE ends. For example, the basestation 1500 may acquire that the data is the last uplink data by an endtag (for example, 1 bit) in the uplink data received from the UE, so asto determine that uplink data transmission ends. Alternatively, when thebase station 1500 finds that it does not receive uplink data within apredetermined time period, it determines that uplink data transmissionof the UE ends.

According to the first embodiment and the second embodiment of thepresent disclosure, power consumption and time delay during an uplinkdata transmission process can be reduced. Therefore, in theabove-described process, overhead caused by the UE transmitting the BSRand/or the base station transmitting the UL grant can be reduced.

It should be noted that block diagrams used for the illustration of theabove embodiments represent functional blocks in functional units. Thesefunctional blocks (components) are realized by any combination ofhardware and/or software. In addition, the means for implementingrespective function blocks is not particularly limited. That is,respective functional blocks may be realized by one apparatus that isphysically and/or logically aggregated, or may be realized by directlyand/or indirectly (for example, wired and/or wireless) connecting two ormore physically and/or logically separate apparatuses and using theplurality of apparatuses.

For example, the radio base station, user terminals and so on in oneimplementation of the present disclosure may function as a computer thatexecutes the processes of the radio communication method of the presentdisclosure. FIG. 16 is a diagram that shows an example of a hardwarestructure of the user terminal according to one implementation of thepresent disclosure. The above described radio base station 10 and userterminal 20 may be physically designed as a computer apparatus includinga processor 1601, a storage 1602, a memory 1603, a communicationapparatus 1604, an input apparatus 1605, an output apparatus 1606, and abus 1607 and the like.

It should be noted that, in the following description, the word“apparatus” may be replaced by “circuit”, “device”, “unit” and so on. Itshould be noted that the hardware structure of the radio base station 10and the user terminal 20 may be designed to include one or more of eachapparatus shown in the drawings, or may be designed not to include partof the apparatus.

For example, although only one processor 1601 is shown, a plurality ofprocessors may be provided. Furthermore, processes may be implementedwith one processor, or processes may be implemented eithersimultaneously or in sequence, or in different manners, on two or moreprocessors. It should be noted that the processor 1601 may beimplemented with one or more chips.

Each function of the radio base station 10 and the user terminal 20 isimplemented by reading predetermined software (program) on hardware suchas the processor 1601 and the memory 1602, so as to make the processor1601 perform calculations, and by controlling the communication carriedout by the communication apparatus 1604, and the reading and/or writingof data in the memory 1602 and the storage 1603.

The processor 1601 may control the whole computer by, for example,running an operating system. The processor 1601 may be configured with acentral processing unit (CPU), which includes interfaces with peripheralapparatus, control apparatus, computing apparatus, a register and so on.For example, the transmitting unit (910, 1130, 1310), receiving unit(920, 1110, 1510), and the like described above may be implemented bythe processor 1601.

Furthermore, the processor 1601 reads programs (program codes), softwaremodules or data, from the storage 1603 and/or the communicationapparatus 1604, into the memory 1602, and executes various processesaccording to these. As for the programs, programs to allow computers toexecute at least part of the operations of the above-describedembodiments may be used.

The memory 1602 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may beconstituted by, for example, at least one of a ROM (Read Only Memory),an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), an EEPROM (Electrically EPROM), aRAM (Random Access Memory) and/or other appropriate storage media. Thememory 1602 may be referred to as a “register”, a “cache”, a “mainmemory” (primary storage apparatus) and so on. The memory 1602 can storeexecutable programs (program codes), software modules and so on forimplementing the radio communication methods according to embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

The storage 1603 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may beconstituted by, for example, at least one of a flexible disk, a floppy(registered trademark) disk, a magneto-optical disk (for example, acompact disc (CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM) and so on), a digital versatiledisc, a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disk), a removable disk, a harddisk drive, a smart card, a flash memory device (for example, a card, astick, a key drive, etc.), a magnetic stripe, a database, a server,and/or other appropriate storage media. The storage 1603 may be referredto as “secondary storage apparatus.”

The communication apparatus 1604 is hardware (transmitting/receivingdevice) for allowing inter-computer communication by using wired and/orwireless networks, and may be referred to as, for example, a “networkdevice”, a “network controller”, a “network card”, a “communicationmodule” and so on. The communication apparatus 1604 may include a highfrequency switch, a duplexor, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, and thelike, in order to realize, for example, Frequency Division Duplex (FDD)and/or Time Division Duplex (TDD).

The input apparatus 1605 is an input device for receiving input from theoutside (for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, abutton, a sensor and so on). The output apparatus 1606 is an outputdevice for allowing transmitting output to the outside (for example, adisplay, a speaker, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamp and so on). Itshould be noted that the input apparatus 1605 and the output apparatus1606 may be provided in an integrated structure (for example, a touchpanel).

Furthermore, these pieces of apparatus, including the processor 1601,the memory 1602 and so on are connected by the bus 1607 so as tocommunicate information. The bus 1607 may be formed with a single bus,or may be formed with buses that vary between pieces of apparatus.

Also, the radio base station 10 and the user terminal 20 may bestructured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an ASIC (Application-Specific IntegratedCircuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), an FPGA (Field ProgrammableGate Array) and so on, and part or all of the functional blocks may beimplemented by the hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may beinstalled with at least one of these pieces of hardware.

It should be noted that the terms illustrated in the presentspecification and/or the terms required for the understanding of thepresent specification may be substituted with terms having the same orsimilar meaning. For example, a channel and/or a symbol may be a signal.In addition, the signal may be a message. A reference signal may beabbreviated as an “RS (Reference Signal)”, and may be referred to as a“pilot”, a “pilot signal” and so on, depending on which standardapplies. In addition, a component carrier (CC) may be referred to as acell, a frequency carrier, a carrier frequency, or the like.

In addition, the radio frame may be composed of one or more periods(frames) in the time domain. Each of the one or more periods (frames)constituting the radio frame may also be referred to as a subframe.Moreover, a subframe may be composed of one or more slots in the timedomain. The subframe may be a fixed length of time duration (e.g., 1 ms)that is independent of the numerology.

Furthermore, a slot may be comprised of one or more symbols in the timedomain (OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbols,SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) symbols, andso on). Furthermore, the slot may also be a time unit configured basedon parameter. Furthermore, a slot may also include a plurality ofmicroslots. Each microslot may be comprised of one or more symbols inthe time domain. Furthermore, a microslot may also be referred as “asubframe”.

A radio frame, a subframe, a slot, a microslot and a symbol allrepresent the time unit when transmitting signals. A radio frame, asubframe, a slot, a microslot and a symbol may also use other names thatcorrespond to each other. For example, one subframe may be referred toas a “transmission time interval (TTI)”, and a plurality of consecutivesubframes may also be referred to as a “TTI”, and one slot or onemicroslot may also be referred to as a “TTI.” That is, a subframe and/ora TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in existing LTE, may be a shorter periodthan 1 ms (for example, one to thirteen symbols), or may be a longerperiod of time than 1 ms. It should be noted that a unit indicating aTTI may also be referred to as a slot, a microslot, or the like insteadof a subframe.

Here, a TTI refers to the minimum time unit of scheduling in radiocommunication, for example. For example, in LTE systems, a radio basestation schedules the radio resources (such as the frequency bandwidthand transmission power that can be used in each user terminal) toallocate to each user terminal in TTI units. It should be noted that thedefinition of TTIs is not limited to this.

TTIs may be channel-coded data packets (transport blocks), code blocks,and/or codeword transmission time units, or may be the unit ofprocessing in scheduling, link adaptation and so on. It should be notedthat, when a TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., the number ofsymbols) actually mapped to the transport block, code block, and/orcodeword may also be shorter than the TTI.

It should be noted that, when one slot or one microslot is called a TTI,more than one TTI (i.e., more than one slot or more than one microslot)may also become the scheduled minimum time unit. Furthermore, the numberof slots (the number of microslots) constituting the minimum time unitof the scheduling may be controlled.

A TTI having a time duration of 1 ms may be referred to as a “normalTTI” (TTI in LTE Rel. 8 to 12), a “standard TTI”, a “long TTI”, a“normal subframe”, a “standard subframe”, or a “long subframe”, and soon. A TTI that is shorter than a normal TTI may be referred to as a“shortened TTI”, a “short TTI”, a “partial (or fractional) TTI”, a“shortened subframe”, a “short subframe”, a “microslot”, or a “shortmicroslot” and so on.

It should be noted that, a long TTI (e.g., a normal TTI, a subframe,etc.) may be replaced with a TTI having a time duration exceeding 1 ms,and a short TTI (e.g., a shortened TTI, and so on) may also be replacedwith a TTI having a TTI duration shorter than the long TTI and a TTIduration exceeding 1 ms.

A resource block (RB) is the unit of resource allocation in the timedomain and the frequency domain, and may include one or a plurality ofconsecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. Also, an RB may includeone or more symbols in the time domain, and may be one slot, onemicroslot, one subframe or one TTI duration. One TTI and one subframeeach may be comprised of one or more resource blocks, respectively. Itshould be noted that one or more RBs may also be referred to as a“physical resource block (PRB (Physical RB))”, a “Sub-Carrier Group(SCG)”, a “Resource Element Group (REG)”, a “PRG pair”, an “RB pair” andso on.

Also, a resource block may also be composed of one or more resourceelements (RE). For example, one RE can be a radio resource area of asubcarrier and a symbol.

It should be noted that the above-described structures of radio frames,subframes, slots, microslots and symbols and so on are simply examples.For example, configurations such as the number of subframes included ina radio frame, the number of slots of each subframe or radio frame, thenumber or microslots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBsincluded in a slot or microslot, the number of subcarriers included inan RB, the number of symbols in a TTI, the symbol duration and thecyclic prefix (CP) duration can be variously changed.

Also, the information and parameters and so on described in thisspecification may be represented in absolute values or in relativevalues with respect to predetermined values, or may be represented incorresponding other information. For example, radio resources may beindicated by predetermined indices. In addition, equations to use theseparameters and so on may be used, apart from those explicitly disclosedin this specification.

The names used for parameters and so on in this specification are notlimited in any respect. For example, since various channels (PUCCH(Physical Uplink Control Channel), PDCCH (Physical Downlink ControlChannel) and so on) and information elements can be identified by anysuitable names, the various names assigned to these various channels andinformation elements are not limited in any respect.

Reporting of information is by no means limited to theaspects/embodiments described in this specification, and other methodsmay be used as well. For example, reporting of information may beimplemented by using physical layer signaling (for example, downlinkcontrol information (DCI), uplink control information (UCI)), higherlayer signaling (for example, RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling,broadcast information (the master information block (MIB), systeminformation blocks (SIBS) and so on), MAC (Medium Access Control)signaling and so on), and other signals and/or combinations of these.

It should be noted that physical layer signaling may also be referred toas L1/L2 (Layer 1/Layer 2) control information (L1/L2 control signals),L1 control information (L1 control signal) and so on. Also, RRCsignaling may be referred to as “RRC messages”, and can be, for example,an RRC connection setup message, RRC connection reconfiguration message,and so on. Also, MAC signaling may be reported using, for example, MACcontrol elements (MAC CEs).

In addition, notification of predetermined information (for example,reporting of “X”) is not limited to explicit notification, but may beperformed implicitly (for example, by not performing notification of thepredetermined information, or by notification of other information).

Determination may be performed using a value (0 or 1) indicated by 1bit, may be performed using a Boolean value (true or false), or may beperformed by comparison of numerical values (for example, comparisonwith a predetermined value).

Software, whether referred to as “software”, “firmware”, “middleware”,“microcode” or “hardware description language”, or called by othernames, should be interpreted broadly, to mean instructions, instructionsets, code, code segments, program codes, programs, subprograms,software modules, applications, software applications, softwarepackages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, executionthreads, procedures, functions and so on.

Also, software, commands, information and so on may be transmitted andreceived via communication media. For example, when software istransmitted from a website, a server or other remote sources by usingwired technologies (coaxial cables, optical fiber cables, twisted-paircables, digital subscriber lines (DSL) and so on) and/or wirelesstechnologies (infrared radiation, microwaves and so on), these wiredtechnologies and/or wireless technologies are included in the definitionof communication media.

The terms “system” and “network” as used herein are usedinterchangeably.

The terms “Base Station (BS)”, “radio base station”, “eNB”, “gNB”,“cell”, “sector”, “cell group”, “carrier” and “component carrier” hereinare used interchangeably. A base station is sometimes referred to by afixed station, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), an access point, a transmissionpoint, a reception point, a femto cell, a small cell, and the like.

A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells (alsoreferred to as sectors). When the base station accommodates a pluralityof cells, an entire coverage region of the base station may be dividedinto a plurality of smaller regions, and each smaller region may alsoprovide communication services by a base station subsystem (for example,a small indoor base station (a Remote Radio Head (RRH))). The term“cell” or “sector” refers to a part or the entirety of the coverageregion of a base station and/or a base station subsystem that performscommunication services in the coverage.

The terms “Mobile Station (MS)”, “user terminal”, “User Equipment (UE)”and “terminal” herein are used interchangeably. A base station issometimes referred to by a fixed station, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), anaccess point, a transmission point, a reception point, a femto cell, asmall cell, and the like.

A mobile station is also sometimes used by those skilled in the art as asubscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, aremote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wirelesscommunication device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, anaccess terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remoteterminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or someother suitable terms.

In addition, the radio base station herein may also be replaced with auser terminal. For example, respective modes/embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be applied to a structure in which communication betweena radio base station and a user terminal is replaced with(Device-to-Device (D2D) communication among a plurality of userterminals. At this time, a function of the above-described radio basestation 10 may be regarded as a function of a user terminal 20. Inaddition, words such as “uplink” and “downlink” may also be replacedwith “side”. For example, an uplink channel may also be replaced with aside channel.

Similarly, a user terminal herein may also be replaced with a radio basestation. At this time, a function of the above-described user terminal20 may be regarded as a function of the radio base station 10.

In this specification, it is assumed that a specific action performed bya base station is also performed by an upper node (upper node) thereofaccording to situations. Obviously, in a network composed of one or morenetwork nodes having a base station, various actions performed forcommunication with the terminal may be performed by the base station,one or more network nodes other than the base station (for example, aMobility Management Entity (MME), a Serving-Gateway (S-GW), etc., may beconsidered), or a combination thereof.

The respective aspects/embodiments illustrated in this specification maybe used individually or in combinations, which may also be switched andused during execution. The order of processes, sequences, flowcharts andso on of the respective aspects/embodiments described in the presentspecification may be re-ordered as long as inconsistencies do not arise.For example, although various methods have been illustrated in thisspecification with various components of steps in exemplary orders, thespecific orders that are illustrated herein are by no means limiting.

The aspects/embodiments illustrated in this specification may be appliedto systems that use LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced),LTE-B (LTE-Beyond), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G (4th generation mobilecommunication system), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system),FRA (Future Radio Access), New-RAT (Radio Access Technology), NR (NewRadio), NX (New radio access), FX (Future generation radio access), GSM(registered trademark) (Global System for Mobile communications), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registeredtrademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20,UWB (Ultra-WideB and), Bluetooth (registered trademark) and otheradequate radio communication methods, and/or next-generation systemsthat are enhanced based on these.

The phrase “based on” as used in this specification does not mean “basedonly on”, unless otherwise specified. In other words, the phrase “basedon” means both “based only on” and “based at least on.”

Any reference to elements with designations such as “first”, “second”and so on as used herein does not generally limit the number/quantity ororder of these elements. These designations are used only forconvenience, as a method of distinguishing between two or more elements.In this way, reference to the first and second elements does not implythat only two elements may be employed, or that the first element mustprecede the second element in some way.

The terms “judging” and “determining” as used herein may encompass awide variety of actions. For example, “judging” and “determining” may beinterpreted to mean making judgements and determinations related tocalculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up(for example, searching a table, a database or some other datastructure), ascertaining and so on. Furthermore, “judging” and“determining” may be interpreted to mean making judgements anddeterminations related to receiving (for example, receivinginformation), transmitting (for example, transmitting information),inputting, outputting, accessing (for example, accessing data in amemory) and so on. In addition, “judging” and “determining” as usedherein may be interpreted to mean making judgements and determinationsrelated to resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing andso on. In other words, “judging” and “determining” may be interpreted tomean making judgements and determinations related to some action.

As used herein, the terms “connected” and “coupled”, or any variation ofthese terms, mean all direct or indirect connections or coupling betweentwo or more elements, and may include the presence of one or moreintermediate elements between two elements that are “connected” or“coupled” to each other. The coupling or connection between the elementsmay be physical, logical or a combination of these. For example,“connection” may be interpreted as “access.” As used herein, twoelements may be considered “connected” or “coupled” to each other byusing one or more electrical wires, cables and/or printed electricalconnections, and, as a number of non-limiting and non-inclusiveexamples, by using electromagnetic energy, such as electromagneticenergy having wavelengths in radio frequency fields, microwave regionsand optical (both visible and invisible) regions.

When terms such as “including”, “comprising” and variations of these areused in this specification or in claims, these terms are intended to beinclusive, in a manner similar to the way the term “provide” is used.Furthermore, the term “or” as used in this specification or in claims isintended to be not an exclusive disjunction.

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, itshould be obvious to a person skilled in the art that the presentdisclosure is by no means limited to the implementations describedherein. The present disclosure can be implemented with variouscorrections and in various modifications, without departing from thespirit and scope of the present disclosure defined by the recitations ofclaims. Consequently, the description herein is provided only for thepurpose of explaining examples, and should by no means be construed tolimit the present disclosure in any way.

1. A terminal comprising: a transmitting unit that transmits, to a basestation, a schedule request (SR); and a receiving unit that receives,from the base station, an uplink grant indicating scheduling informationfor transmitting uplink data, wherein the transmitting unit transmits,to the base station, the uplink data by employing the schedulinginformation.
 2. The terminal according to claim 1, wherein informationfor a buffer status report (BSR) is indicated by resources on which theSR was transmitted and the BSR indicates a volume of the uplink data,wherein the resources on which the SR was transmitted include at leastone type of time resources, frequency resources and code resources onwhich the SR was transmitted.
 3. The terminal according to claim 2,wherein the scheduling information is allocated by the base stationaccording to the volume of the uplink data.
 4. The terminal according toclaim 1, wherein the uplink data is a part of the whole uplink data tobe transmitted by the terminal, and a processor indicates a volume ofremaining uplink data to be transmitted by the terminal to the basestation by the uplink data.
 5. The terminal according to claim 4,wherein the processor is further configured to receive, from the basestation, an uplink grant indicating scheduling information fortransmitting the remaining uplink data, and the processor is furtherconfigured to transmit to the base station the remaining uplink data byemploying the scheduling information.
 6. A base station comprising: areceiving unit that receives, from a terminal, a schedule request (SR);and a transmitting unit that transmits, to the terminal, an uplink grantindicating scheduling information for transmitting uplink data, whereinthe receiving unit receives, from the terminal, the uplink data byemploying the scheduling information.
 7. A system comprising a terminaland a base station, wherein: the terminal comprises: a transmitting unitthat transmits, to the base station, a schedule request (SR); and areceiving unit that receives, from the base station, an uplink grantindicating scheduling information for transmitting uplink data, whereinthe transmitting unit transmits, to the base station, the uplink data byemploying the scheduling information, and the base station comprises: areceiving unit that receives, from the terminal, the SR; and atransmitting unit that transmits, to the terminal, the uplink grantindicating the scheduling information for transmitting the uplink data,wherein the receiving unit receives, from the terminal, the uplink databy employing the scheduling information.